1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to aluminum sintered alloys with high accuracy and high density which are excellent in mechanical and physical characteristics as well as superior in wear resistance. The invention also relates to a method of economically producing such alloys not by plastic working but by atmospheric sintering.
The object of the present invention is to provide aluminum alloys satisfying such characteristic requirements as are demanded for mechanical structure parts, by atmospheric sintering that allows the aluminum alloys to be formed into various shapes at a high degree of freedom. Examples of its industrial applications include compressor parts such as side plates, housings, cylinders, casings, vanes, shoes, and rotors, automobile parts such as timing pulleys, oil pump rotors, and bushings, and business machine components such as rollers, gears, and bearings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Aluminum powder or aluminum alloy powder generally has a hard oxide film, which is impossible to reduce existing on its surface. Therefore, in producing aluminum sintered alloys, it is necessary to break up the oxide film to form metallic contact portions among the powder particles, and thus allow the metal atoms to be diffused. Unless powder particles are strongly coupled together by diffusing metal atoms, strong sintered products could not be obtained. Conventionally, two methods have been available for this purpose.